Home is Where the Heart Is
by HsmZanessaFansite
Summary: Gabriella Montez is from a small town but she wants to get out and follow her dreams. Her mother has always said that home is where the heart is. Will she find love? Will she follow her dreams? Based on the song by Lady Antebellum.
1. Leaving

**Hey everyone! Yes, I know…How is this possible? Another story? Well I had gotten this story idea in my mind after listening to the song by Lady Antebellum. I'm not telling you the name of the song because well, you see the title of the story? Well there you go, that's the name of the song. You don't have to listen to it yet because well it's eventually going to be in the story and then I will tell you to listen to it then. But if you already know the song, then you can already sort of picture what is going to happen in this story. The first chapter isn't going to be so long but don't worry it will get longer. Enjoy!**

**Home is Where the Heart Is**

**Chapter 1**

**Leaving**

In a small town known as Checotah, Oklahoma, a girl named Gabriella Montez was lying down in her bed looking around her room. She was 22 years old and just graduated from college. She has lived in this small town her whole life but there was something missing. Gabriella wanted to spread her wings and go to the East Coast to get a job a record company. She loved singing but writing music was her passion. This has been her dream ever since she could remember. She looked up at the ceiling and smiled as she came up with an idea.

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"Gabriella sweetie, are you sure you want to do this?" Gabriella was packing her bags with the help from her mother.

"Mom, this is my dream," she looked at her Mom, "I love this place, really I do but it's holding me back from life. Life wants me to do this, I know it does."

"Only if you're sure about this," her Mom gave her a small smile, "but remember what I always have told you, home is where the heart is and you never known when things can change. Life might not be the way you dream of it now."

Gabriella smiled, "I know Mom."

"So promise me if you love one place and it's not New York, don't leave because of what you think your dream is because you can always write. Also you never know if you might meet someone," Gabriella gave her a look, "just promise me."

"I promise," she nodded as her Mom gave her a smile folding up some clothes.

Gabriella has had boyfriends but none of them stuck for long. She never really understood why but she did sometimes wish she had someone she could talk to about anything. Yes, she has had friends but it's different. Yes her Mom has always told her that home is where the heart is but she never really believed in it because well she's been living in Checotah her whole life and knew nothing else but. This is why she is doing what she wants to do. Leave and try and find out where she is truly meant to be.

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Gabriella turned around and gave her Mom a smile who had tears in her eyes, "Well I guess this is it."

"You better call every day," she gave her daughter a pointed look, "now come over here and give your mother a hug."

Gabriella smiled before walking over to her Mom wrapping her arms around her, then placing a kiss on her cheek, "I love you Mom and I will call you every day."

Her Mom pulled away from her wiping the tears away from her face, "Remember what I said."

"I will Mom," she nodded, "Home is where the heart is. I'll keep that in mind."

"Good now you have everything you need," Gabriella nodded, "be safe while you're driving."

"I will," she gave her another hug before walking over to the car and turned to wave at her Mom, "Bye Mom."

"Bye Gabriella," her Mom waved.

Gabriella gave her another smile before getting in the driver's seat. She placed the seatbelt on and over her shoulder. She couldn't believe that she really was going to do this but she knew she had to. She gave her Mom one more look before she started pulling out of the driveway. Gabriella turned onto the street, then watched as her Mom and house slowly went by her as she drove down the street. This was it. She was leaving and starting a new journey towards her dream.

**So what did you think? First chapters are always tough to do. I don't really like this first chapter but I do promise you that this story will be good and the next chapter will be longer. This is probably the shortest chapter I have written and I don't like it! But it has to be this way. Please leave a review. Thank you!**


	2. West Virginia

**Hey, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. It's not going to be long like the other one wasn't but that's because we're really just getting into the story. It's April 21****st**** which is my birthday so I hope as a birthday present, I can get a lot of reviews and views. I am 18 years old. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

**West Virginia**

Gabriella knew she wasn't going to be able to make it to New York in a day and wouldn't have enough money to keep going. She knew she would have to stop somewhere for a week, two tops and get a job at a diner but she didn't know where yet but she did know that she was slowly getting tired.

Gabriella's phone started to ring and she glanced down to press the talk button, "Hello? Gabriella speaking."

"Hi honey, it's me," she heard her Mom speaking through the phone, "I wanted to make sure that you were ok and see how the road is treating you."

"I'm fine Mom," she smiled looking out on the road, "and the road is good. I think I'm going to stop in West Virginia for the week to make money."

"I remember saying that thirty years ago," Gabriella sighed, "except it was a small town in Georgia and I still haven't left. It looks like you're going to be more and more like me as you get older."

"Sure Mom," she rolled her eyes knowing her Mom couldn't see her, "and like I said I would keep a look out and promised you that if the same thing happens to me like you, I will see how it goes."

"I know sweetie," her Mom spoke, "well I should let you go. Call me tomorrow or something. I need to make sure that my angel is surviving out in the real world."

"I will Mom. Talk to you soon," Gabriella smiled before touch the end button on her phone and whispered to herself, "I'll believe home is where the heart is when I see it."

Gabriella knew the story of how her parents met. Maria Lopez was on her way to Florida from Texas to start a new job but was sidetracked when her car broke down in a small town in Georgia where Josh Montez happened to work as a mechanic on her car. They flirted with each other and before you knew it, they fell in love and Maria Lopez never made it to Florida for the job. Now, Gabriella Montez is doing what her mother did and who knows, maybe there will be a love story in the end of it all.

Gabriella saw the sign for West Virginia, "It's time to start my life towards New York."

**Ok so I told you that it was going to be short and well yeah this is very short but don't worry next chapter, it will be longer. I hope you still liked this chapter even with the shortness. Please leave a review. Thank you!**


	3. The Diner and Blue Eyes

**Ok so here is the next chapter for this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm not sure how long this story is because well, I'm not really sure where to go with it after this chapter. Please still enjoy this chapter. Thank you and have fun even though this will probably be a short chapter.**

**Chapter 3**

**The Diner and Blue Eyes**

Gabriella has been in Belmont, West Virginia for the past few days and now was working one of the night shifts at a diner. She already made a new friend who was also working at the diner. Her name is Sharpay and she has blond hair and was only a couple years older than Gabriella.

"Hey Gabriella," Sharpay gave her a smile as she walked through the diner's door, "How are you doing this fine evening, my future superstar friend?"

Gabriella giggled before going behind the counter, placing her bag behind the counter before standing back next to Sharpay, "I'm doing good. How about you?"

"I'm pretty good," she nodded her head looking around the diner, "Slow night?"

"Yeah, during the week is usually slow during the week," Sharpay nodded her head before the door opened and a man walked in and she nudged Gabriella whispering in her ear, "Hottie at the door."

Gabriella looked at the door and the first thing noticed were the eyes of male stranger. His eyes were very blue, ocean blue and she has never seen that bright of eyes before. She noticed the guy look at her giving her a small smile which made Gabriella to look away as the guy went to the end of the counter and sat down on the seat. Sharpay nudged Gabriella again with her elbow.

Gabriella looked at Sharpay, "What?"

"He's sitting at the end of the counter which is your section," Sharpay gave her a little smirk, "I mean, you seem like you're already interested and the way he smiled tells me that he is now more interested in something else than the food."

"Grow up Sharpay," Gabriella pushed her playfully before grabbing a pad and pencil walking over to stand in front of the guy who was looking at the menu, "Hello I'm Gabriella and I will be your waitress this evening. Would you like anything to drink for starters?"

The guy looked up before smiling at Gabriella, "Well for starters, I would like some coffee and then maybe get to know my beautiful waitress some more as she takes the rest of my orders."

Gabriella blushes a little as she wrote down the drink order on the paper before looking at the guy who looked at her with a smile on his face, "I'll be back right with your coffee."

"Don't be too long," he gave her a chuckle as he saw her blush again before looking back at the menu as Gabriella walked away to get the coffee.

Sharpay tapped Gabriella's back playfully and she just shook her head giving her a glare before working on the coffee. Sharpay just giggled going around the counter to work on a few of her tables. As Gabriella was working on the coffee, she glanced at the blue eyed stranger and noticed he was looking at her but looked away when he saw her, she then went back to work on the coffee.

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Gabriella stood in front of the blue eyed stranger handing him over his check, "Here is your check, sir. You can pay at the register by the front door."

"Will do," the guy smiled taking the check but as Gabriella was about to walk away, "but wait a second Gabriella."

Gabriella turned back around giving the guy a smile, "Yes?"

"I just wanted to let you know that my name is Troy," he gave her a smile, then took out something from his pocket and held it out towards Gabriella, "here's my number. Feel free to give me a call, anytime."

Gabriella looked at the card and then looked at Troy taking the card with a smile on her face, "Maybe I will, Troy. Have a nice day."

"You too," Troy stood up from the stool but before he walked away, he placed a 20 dollar bill on the counter then gave Gabriella a wink, "Gabriella."

She looked shock at the tip that Troy who she just met an hour left and then watched as Troy walked towards the door. He gave the woman behind the register the bill and then the money and as he was waiting for his change, he looked at Gabriella, giving her a smile before taking the change from the woman and walked out the door but not before giving her another smile. Gabriella couldn't believe what just happened as she picked up the money on the counter and she walked away from the section as the clean up guy cleaned the plates up.

Sharpay nudged Gabriella again, "Someone's got a boyfriend."

"Shut up," she shook her head, "I just met the guy and besides I'm not staying here for a long time."

Sharpay scoffed playfully, "Yeah I don't think after meeting that hottie, you're seriously going to leave and I don't think he'll let you because he couldn't keep his eyes off of you all night. Maybe what you told me your Mom always told you was true. Home is where the heart is."

"We'll see," Gabriella nodded her head before looking out the door where Troy walked out of before whispering to herself, "We'll see."

**So what did you think? Don't worry, the chapters will get longer. I hope you still enjoyed this chapter. What do you think will happen next? Is Gabriella really going to leave West Virginia to go to New York? Or is her Mom right about her finding love? Please tell me what you think by leaving a review. Thank you!**


	4. Call Him

**I'm using this weekend to try and catch up with the stories that are on here because I have a busy two weeks coming with finals, graduation, and other things that are happening. So here is the next chapter of Home is Where the Heart Is and I hope you enjoy it.**

**Chapter 4**

**Call Him**

Gabriella was sitting on the couch looking at the piece of paper that had the blue-eyed stranger with the name Troy's number written on it. She was so sure if she wanted to call him or not. If she called him, he might want to meet up or just talk and then it'll be hard for her to leave knowing that she was going to have two friends in West Virginia. But her goal was to get to New York and she hoped that it would happen.

Sharpay walked through her apartment door where Gabriella was staying as well so she wouldn't have to pay for a hotel and she saw Gabriella with the paper in her hand and sighed, "Oh will you just call him? You have been looking at that paper for a day, he's probably waiting for your call so please for the love of God, call him."

"Sharpay, you know that I'm planning to leave in a few weeks," she saw the look she was getting from Sharpay, "I can't start a relationship with some guy and then leave. I'm a relationship type of girl, not a fling kind of girl even though I haven't really had more than two relationships. I just can't put me or even a guy into something like that."

"Come on," Sharpay shook her head before sitting on the phone grabbing Gabriella's cell phone handing it over to her, "just give it a chance and call him. Who knows what it could bring? Maybe he'll go with you to New York or maybe you can change your mind and stay here. I mean, you can always write music here and send it off to record companies. Just do me a favor and see what this leads to. It doesn't have to be a relationship or a fling, it could just be a friendship. Just call him."

"Fine," Gabriella grabbed the phone and giggled at Sharpay's grinning face, "you're so persistent. I don't know what I would do without you when I came here."

"Everyone says that," she giggled before turning on the TV, "now call him."

Gabriella sighed before looking at the number again and then took her cell phone and started dialing the number before putting the phone up to her ear letting it ring for a few moments thinking no one was going to answer but right when she was about to hang up, someone answered, "Hello?"

She couldn't believe that he actually picked up and didn't know what to say but then Sharpay nudged her, "Uh hi. Is this Troy?"

"Yes this is," she could hear confusion in his voice, "who is this?"

"Um," Gabriella didn't know how to explain herself but then she felt the phone taken out of her hand and she noticed Sharpay, "Sharpay!"

"Hush," she gave Gabriella a look before putting the cell phone up to her ear and started speaking, "Hello Troy. This is Sharpay, one of the waitresses at that diner you came to, a couple nights ago. I am actually sitting next to the girl that you gave your number to who has been looking at your number for the past 24 hours and I finally got her to call you and that was the girl who hardly spoke two words to you."

"Uh because you took the phone out of my hands!" Sharpay ignored her as she kept speaking before handing back the phone to Gabriella who put the phone up to her ear, "You are so dead!"

"Wow and I didn't even do anything yet. Hmm interesting," Gabriella's eyes widened as she realized that Troy heard that.

"Uh sorry, that was to my new friend who could get over the top when she's explaining things," she glared at the grin on Sharpay's face before rolling her eyes, "But uh hey."

"Hey," Troy chuckled on the other side of the phone, "So I'm glad you called."

A smile formed on Gabriella's face, "You are?"

"Yeah you see I have been thinking about this girl who took my food order and just how I wanted to see her pretty face again," this time instead of a smile, she was blushing, "awe did I make your face blush?"

"No," but it was no use because it caused her to blush even more, "So you actually want to see the pretty diner girl again even though you know nothing about her?"

This caused Troy chuckled, "Well I was hoping that we could get to know each other and then see how things go. What do you say?"

"Hmm," Gabriella looked at Sharpay who was nodding her head and Gabriella smiled, "I'd like that. So what did you have in mind?"

"Well it's nine now and I was just heading out," Gabriella sighed knowing he was leaving, "but I was going to this club that's a little out of town so maybe if you and your friend are up to it, you can meet me there since I'm going with a friend."

"I think that sounds like a good plan," she smiled before she continued, "Where's the club?"

"Club?" Sharpay looked at Gabriella who just shushed her as she wrote down the directions before hanging up the phone, "Woh what's going on?"

"Well you did tell me to give it a shot so I am," Gabriella smiled before standing up but looked at Sharpay, "you better get up because you're going to because he's going with a friend and I definitely need some back up."

Sharpay turned the TV off before popping up from the couch with a grin on her face, "You don't have to tell me twice."

Gabriella giggled before they walked out of the living room to Sharpay's bedroom. Gabriella was actually kind of excited. She hasn't really hung out with a guy in awhile and it felt good knowing she was. Maybe plans were already starting to change.

**So what did you think? Don't worry the next chapter will be longer. I just wanted to get a chapter in so that you don't think that I have forgotten you. So what do you think will happen at the club? Will Gabriella end up staying in West Virginia or stick with her plan to go to New York? I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review. Thank you!**


	5. Getting To Know Each Other

**So I think this is the fastest I updated one story in awhile but I have an idea for this chapter and I hope you enjoy it which I think you will. It might end up being the longest chapter so far of this story. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 5**

**Getting to Know Each Other**

Gabriella and Sharpay walked through the doors of the bar where they were going to meet Troy and his friend. They looked around noticing the bar was very crowded with people dancing, people sitting at tables, and people up at the bar. The two guys could be anywhere.

"Now this is a night out," Sharpay giggled looking at her friend, "so do you see your blue-eyed stranger and his friend anywhere?"

Gabriella looked around the room before shaking her head, "Nope."

Sharpay gave her a small smile, "Maybe we should go sit at a table and wait until they find us?"

"Sure why not?" Gabriella shrugged her shoulders as they walked over to a table but as they did, she noticed someone sitting at the table and she smiled nudging Sharpay, "there he is."

"Why are you nudging me?" Sharpay gave her a weird look, "He's your date."

Gabriella gave her a look, "This is not a date."

"Right, a get to know each other kind of thing at a bar where there's dancing, drinking, having fun with a guy and girl," she nodded her head sarcastically, "yeah this is totally not a date."

"Whatever Sharpay," Gabriella shook her head before walking over to the table before smiling, "Um excuse me? Is anyone sitting here?"

"Uh no, you can…" Troy smiled when he turned to see who spoke, "well, look who it is. It's my beautiful waitress that goes by the name of Gabriella."

"Wow you sound like a robot dude," the girls looked at the guy sitting next to Troy, "since he's obviously not going to introduce me, I'm Charlie."

Sharpay smiled before sitting down across from Charlie, "I'm Sharpay."

"And I'm Gabriella," she sat down next to Sharpay before looking at Troy, "so what were you two guys doing before we got here about five seconds ago?"

Charlie smiled, "Oh he was just waiting to see if you were going to come. Actually, all he has done is talk about the girl from the diner since you two first met and then really hasn't stopped talking about since you called him."

"Really?"

Troy couldn't believe that Charlie just told her that so he became nervous when she asked that, "I…uh…yes."

"Awe that's so cute," they both turned to look at Sharpay, "and to think she didn't want to call you because she was so worried about you and her becoming friends with you because…"

"Sharpay," Gabriella shook her head as she cut her off before she mentioned the fact that she was planning to leave in a few weeks and then looked at Troy, "she doesn't know what she's talking about."

Sharpay gave her a questionable look but then realized what she was about to say and looked at the guys, "Right."

"Ok then," Troy was confused but he let it go as he looked at Gabriella nodding his head to the dance floor, "Would you like to dance?"

"Sure," Gabriella smiled as she watched Troy stand up holding his hand out for her which she gladly grabbed and he helped her up, "thank you."

He just gave her a charming smile without letting go of her hand as they walked over to the dance floor. Troy placed his hands on Gabriella's hips and she placed her arms around Troy's neck and they started dancing with the music that wasn't slow so Gabriella was moving her hips.

Sharpay smiled and knew if things would work out with them, Gabriella may decide to stay in West Virginia but she shook her head clearing her head as she looked at the guy sitting across from her, "So how long have you and Troy known each other?"

"We've been friends since elementary school," Charlie gave Sharpay a smile, "what about you and Gabriella?"

"Oh we just met like last week but we just clicked and she's already like a sister that I never have," Sharpay smiled as she took a glance of her new best friend before looking back to Charlie.

"Ah that's cool," he smiled before standing up and walked over to her holding his hand out, "how about a dance?"

She smiled taking his hand, "Sure."

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Troy took Gabriella's hand and he walked them over to the bar and they both took a seat on the bar stools and he looked at her, "Want something to drink?"

"Um," she looked at the bartender, "could I get a Coors Light bottled? Thank you."

"Make that two," Troy smiled at the bartender before turning to face Gabriella, "So tell me about you."

She smiled, "What do you want to know?"

"Anything."

"Well there's not much to tell."

He chuckled shaking his head, "Oh come on. We are supposed to be getting to know each other so there's got to be something to tell. I mean, what pretty girl like you doesn't have anything to tell?"

"Since you put it that way," she giggled, "I'm originally from Checotah, Oklahoma and took a road trip heading to New York because I want to become a songwriter, but I needed to make money so I stopped here, got the job at the diner, met Sharpay, met you, and here I am now."

"Songwriter, heh?" Gabriella nodded her head, "that sounds like a cool job. I'm sure you'll make money off of that so I'm guessing you're not sticking around much longer since you only stopped here to make money?"

She saw he was trying to hide the sadness and it kind of made her feel bad not that she was planning on leaving anytime in the next week but a couple weeks, maybe longer, she was already rethinking things through so she just spoke up with a smile on her face, "Well, my Mom always told me that life could change your plans when you least expected and I think already life is starting to change mine."

"Really?" Gabriella nodded her head, "Well I hope whoever is changing those plans, keeps you away from what you want to do because if your plans change and you decide to stay here, you should still work on your songwriting dream. I'll kick someone's ass if they try to stop you from doing that."

"Wow already protective of me, aren't you?"

He chuckled before taking a sip from his beer, "Well this may be a small town but there can be some psychos out there so you would need some protection."

Gabriella giggled, "So is there anything else you want to know before we get to you?"

"Hmm about your family, childhood, and I don't know."

"Well I'm an only child, my parents are divorced, hardly ever see my Dad because he lives in California with his new family," he was surprised that she said that very easily but she kept talking, "my childhood? Well, I was very into soccer, gymnastics, dance, writing, music, and had some friends. There aren't so many people in my town so it was kind of hard to find people your own age except the people you go to school with."

"Well that is very cool," he chuckled, "Ok so my turn. I have lived in this town my whole life and I don't think I would leave this town, well maybe I would but I would always come back here. I have two little brothers, ages 12 and 16, so there's an age difference between each of us. I was into probably about every sport you could think of. I played hockey, baseball, soccer, basketball, football, and some golf. I'm actually working on opening a sports arena, either in the town or in the town we're in now so that people could enjoy sports just like I did especially the kids."

"Awe," she smiled placing her head on her hand looking at him with a smile on her face, "so you really know what you want to do."

"So do you," he stated the obvious, "hey maybe I'll add a music department in the sports arena so you could start your own label. Now what do you think about that?"

"That would be cool," she giggled, "you really don't want me to leave and what? We just met the other day and you're already getting attached."

Troy placed his hand under her chin lifting it off of her hand, "You don't make it hard."

She almost lost her breath looking in his eyes. His eyes were so blue that they were hypnotizing. Troy smiled leaving his hand under her chin. He wasn't sure if he should kiss her or not. It wasn't at a very romantic spot and he wanted their first kiss, if they do have a first kiss to be somewhere nicer than this so he slowly broke their stare and removed his hand to grab his drink, taking a sip from it. Gabriella was a little confused but she just let it go.

"So would you like to go out there and dance again?" Troy gave her a smile to break the little awkwardness between the two, "I mean, you're a great dancer."

She smiled standing from the bar stool taking his hand to get him off of the stool, "Sure."

Getting to know each other has been a blast and they both hope that it wasn't going to end. Gabriella already has a feeling that her plans are changing but she wasn't going to say anything until she's for sure and how things would turn out with Troy, if anything does happen with them. Like she has thought before, maybe her Mom is right but she's going to wait before she does say that home is where the heart is because she's not totally sure yet. But for right now, she's going to enjoy every moment she has with Troy and Sharpay, even Charlie.

**So what do you think? Are Gabriella's plans changing? Do you think anything will happen between Troy and Gabriella? What do you think of Troy's idea of opening a sports arena and maybe adding a music department? Please tell me what you think in a review. Thank you!**


	6. I'm Not Totally Sure

**So who's ready for the next chapter of this story? You're not? Well too bad because here it comes. It's been a few weeks since the last chapter that I have written. Ok I just read over this story and realized that I had Gabriella's Mom stopping in a small town in Georgia when she met her Dad but then she told Troy that she was from Oklahoma. I am going to keep it the original way and that is that they are from a small town from Georgia. Also, I have said that her parents are divorced; well I'm keeping that because that would ruin this next chapter so ok, I just wanted to clear things up. I hope you enjoy this chapter even though it might be short.**

**Chapter 6**

**I'm Not Totally Sure**

"_Sweetie, are you there? Sweetie, pick up. I know you're there. I just want to talk to you and see how things were going with you. Not only that but I sort of have some news to tell you. Please pick up, Gabriella."_

Gabriella groaned as she rolled over to lie on her back after listening to her Mom's voicemail. What could her Mom possibly have to tell her so early in the morning? But she knew if she didn't call her soon after, there will be more phone calls and then a lecture coming from her so she sat up and leaned back onto the headboard dialing her Mom's number until she heard her voice.

"_Hello?"_

"Hi Mom," she yawned slightly before she continued to talk, "I got your message and decided to call you back. First, why are you calling so early in the morning? Second, I'm fine. Third, what is so important that you had to have me call you back right away?"

"_Well to answer you first question, I called you last night and left you that message then so I'm guessing you had your phone off meaning you're having fun, secondly, I'm glad you're fine. You know how mothers can get worried about their only child out in the world on their own. Also to answer your second question, I uh met someone."_

"You what?" Gabriella was shocked to hear those words coming out of her Mom's mouth, not that she was mad but she was just in shocked, "When? How? Who is he? Where is he from? Mom, details."

She heard her Mom giggle a little bit, _"His name is Brian. We met a few days after you left when I was shopping for food. He is actually from our town. We were talking and then before you know it, he asked me out. Are you mad?"_

"Mad? Why would I be mad? I'm happy for you," Gabriella smiled, "it's time that you got out there. I mean, Dad did. You deserve to be just as happy as he his. So when is the date?"

"_It's actually tonight," _Gabriella smiled again, _"so anyways, enough about me. How are things in West Virginia? You are still there right? Getting ready to head to New York for your big dream?"_

"Yes I'm still in West Virginia and um," she wasn't totally sure of her plan anymore after meeting Troy, Sharpay, and Charlie, "I'm not totally sure about that anymore."

"_What? Are you changing your mind? Wait, have you met someone that you're not telling me about? Gabriella, sweetie don't leave your Mom out of the loop. It's been us girls for the past five years, you know that you can tell me anything."_

"I know Mom," Gabriella nodded her head and leaned her head back, "Mom, I made friends here. I told you about Sharpay, she's turning into like a sister to me and I guess you can say that I met someone."

"_Ooh what's his name? How did you two meet? Are you going out with him?"_

"His name is Troy, we met at the diner that I work at and no, we're not going out. We just met and then hung out at a club with his friend and Sharpay as we got to know each other but I don't know, maybe."

"_Did you tell him about New York?"_

"Yes and he told me that it sounded like a cool job but also that he was planning on opening a sports arena and kind of told me that maybe he would add a music department where I could do my own producing music," she smiled thinking back when he said this, "I don't know anymore."

"_I told you this might happen and of course you were too stubborn to listen to me and now you are possibly going through what I said so baby, you better listen to your heart because only your heart knows what it wants. I know you're going to tell me that it's too soon to tell but sweetie, stay there longer and see how it will turn out. If this guy is already talking about adding your career to his career after only seeing him twice, I think it's best you stay."_

Gabriella sighed, "We'll see what happens."

"_Yes we will. Ok sweetheart that's really all I wanted to talk to you about. I have to get to work. You better keep in touch and keep up to date about this Troy guy and what you are planning to do. I love you Gabriella, no matter what you come up with. Just do what your heart tells you, it always knows what you truly want."_

"I love you too Mom. Bye," Gabriella hangs up her cell phone before placing it on her bed and thinking about everything that has been happening before whispering, "Everything is happening so fast."

**So what do you think? Is her Mom going to be right or is Gabriella going to leave West Virginia like her original plan? How do you think Sharpay and Troy will think about it? Please tell me what you think in a review. Thank you!**


	7. Go Out With Me?

**So this story is going to be longer than I expected to write because I'm getting into it. I hope you are as well. Don't worry, the chapters are going to get longer after this chapter. But I want to let you know that I will not be updating for a week so there will be no stories coming from me but when I return from my break, there will be lots of updates because I have a plan. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. **

**Chapter 7**

**Go Out With Me?**

"So have you talked to Troy in the past couple days?" Sharpay looked at Gabriella as they were standing behind the counter waiting for some customers.

"No, he told me that he has been busy with work," she looked at Sharpay, "you know he has to work to make money for his future plans."

"Yeah speaking of plans? What are you doing about New York?" Sharpay gave Gabriella a curious look, "I mean, are you still going or are you changing your plans?"

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I mean, I like it here. It's great living here and everything with Troy, he said he would add a music department to his sports arena plan. He's already writing me in his life when I'm not in his life like that. I guess I might be changing my mind and plans."

"Awe you should," Sharpay smiled, "you and Troy would make a cute couple and great business partners. Plus you're probably one of the closest friends that I've had since college and I don't want you to leave."

"I feel the same way about you," Gabriella returned the smile, "so we'll see what happens."

"Yeah we will," Sharpay nodded before looking at the door with a smile on her face, "Ah speaking of plans changing. Looks like someone doesn't have work tonight."

"What are you talking about?" Gabriella grew confused before Sharpay nodded to the door and she looked and smiled seeing Troy walk in with a smile on his face before he walked over to sit one of the counter seats in front of the two girls, "Well isn't this a surprise? No work tonight?"

"Nope I got the night off so I was thinking 'hmm what could be a better way to spend my evening than to go to the diner to visit my girl' so here I am," Troy gave Gabriella a smile before noticing Sharpay standing next to her, "Hey Sharpay."

"Well hello Troy," Sharpay sent a little smirk over to Gabriella, "well I'm going to do some work while you two talk."

Gabriella shook her head as she watch Sharpay walk away from them over to a table before she looked at Troy who still had a smile on his face, "So your girl, huh? Who is this girl?"

"Well she's this pretty diner girl with the beautiful brown eyes that I just can't keep my eyes away from, beautiful brown hair that I just want to run my hand through, and then that beautiful smile that I always want to make sure that it never leaves her face," he smiled when Gabriella blushed a little, "and I was kind of wondering if this girl would want to go out with me and then maybe she will really become my girl."

Gabriella looked at him with a shocked expression, "Are you asking me out?"

"Well I guess I am," he chuckled before standing up and reached over for Gabriella's hand as he leaned his arms on the counter looking at Gabriella, "So Gabriella, would you like to go out with me on a real date?"

She looked over to see Sharpay nodding her head frantically before looking around to see that she wasn't the only one nodding her head so she looked back at Troy who was giving her a charming smile, "Sure."

"Is that a yes?"

Gabriella giggled before leaning close to him before whispering, "Yes, I will go out with you."

"Great," Troy smiled before pulling away and then sat back down on the counter chair, "now what to get to eat?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes as she looked at Troy who was looking over the menu but then giggled because she knew that their date wasn't going to be dull. She had fun when they were at the club together so maybe the date will be just as good or even better. This may finally make up her mind about her plans towards her dream of being a songwriter in New York.

**So yeah, it's short but it's not the shortest chapter of this story. Believe me, the chapters are going to get longer, trust me. So what did you think of this chapter? How do you think the date is going to go? Do you think it will help Gabriella make up her mind or will it take more than just one date? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review. Thank you!**


	8. Shopping

**So it's been almost a month since the last chapter of this story but I've been busy with stuff like I have told you so I'm back and going to try and update as much as I can. Then when school starts, I don't know how often I will be able to update but I'll try. This chapter is kind of a filler, like just to update the story. So I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

**Chapter 8**

**Shopping**

Gabriella looked through her closet to find something to wear on her date but she couldn't find anything. She groaned really loudly before falling back onto her bed. Not even two seconds later, her door opened quickly and in came Sharpay looking at Gabriella with a worried look.

"What's wrong?"

"I have a date tonight with Troy," she groaned looking at Sharpay, "and I have nothing to wear."

"You must have something," Sharpay shook her head with a smile as she walked over to look in Gabriella's closet until she started furiously looking in her closet before turning around, "we need to go shopping."

"Shopping?" Gabriella stood up a little bit giving her a weird look, "Where?"

Sharpay gave her a smile before shaking her head, "This may be a small town but people here do have to go buy some clothes so there is a mall right outside this town so you better get ready because we're going to the mall and you better hurry because we don't have all day."

"Ok ok," Gabriella giggled before standing up and Sharpay smiled before walking out of her room.

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"Sharpay, I haven't found anything yet for the date," Gabriella sighed as she looked at Sharpay who had bags in her hands, "but I see you found stuff for yourself."

"Hey some of this stuff is for you too," Sharpay smiled at Gabriella's shocked expression, "What? We weren't just coming to find you something to wear tonight, you needed more clothes in that closet so I just thought, hey let's buy you some more clothes."

"You didn't have to."

"But I wanted to," Sharpay gave her a smile before she looked past Gabriella and saw a dress in the window behind her, "oh my god, G, I think I found the perfect dress."

"Dress? I was just looking for something nice," she grew confused but then turned around to see where Sharpay was looking at and she gasped before nodding her head, "that could do."

Sharpay giggled before looping her arm with Gabriella's arm as they headed towards the store. Gabriella kept her eyes on the dress and was thinking about if it would be alright for the date that night because she wasn't sure what Troy had planned for her but whatever it was, she was going to wear that dress, maybe.

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Gabriella looked at herself in the mirror that was inside the changing room before smiling to herself and opening the door to step out to show Sharpay what it looked like, "What do you think?"

"What do I think?" Sharpay looked at her before smiling, "I think Troy won't be able to keep his eyes off of you all night."

"Really?" Gabriella looked down before looking back at her again, "You don't think it's too much?"

"Not at all," Sharpay shook her head, "now go in and change so that we can buy it, then we can go back to the apartment to do your hair and make-up because your first date with Troy should be awesome because then maybe I won't lose my best friend to New York."

Gabriella giggled before she went back into the changing room to change back into her everyday clothes. **If you want to see the dress, look on my profile page for the link. Also on the profile page, there is a link for Vanessa Hudgens' official website if you haven't seen it yet. **As Gabriella took off the dress to change, she thought back to what Sharpay said. She was right, this date could make up her mind about if she was still going to New York or to stay where she is now. Gabriella looked herself in the mirror and thought to herself. _Home is where the heart is._

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Sharpay just finished doing Gabriella's hair and make-up before she looked at her, "You look beautiful. If Troy doesn't like you after tonight, there is something wrong with that boy."

"Thanks Sharpay," Gabriella looked at Sharpay, "for everything."

"Don't mention it," she smiled at Gabriella, "you're like a sister to me and it's been awhile since I've had a friend like that so I hope you decide to stay here but if you don't, we're still going to be close. I love you Gabriella."

Gabriella smiled before she put her arms around Sharpay for a hug, "I love you too Sharpay."

**So what did you think? I know, it's not really a big chapter but I'm saving it for the date which I still don't know what they are going to do but I think I have an idea. What do you think should happen on the date? What did you think of this chapter? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review. Thank you!**


	9. The Date

**Ok so who's ready for the date? I'm ready to right it so I'm hope you're ready to read it. I think this will be the longest chapter that I have written for this story since there have been a lot of short chapters and also I'm not sure how much longer this story will be going on. It's actually already more than I thought I was going to write but oh well. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

**Chapter 9**

**The Date**

"So are you ready for your date tonight with Troy?" Sharpay looked at Gabriella who was looking herself over in the mirror near the door, "Gabriella, you look amazing. You don't need to keep checking yourself over."

"Ok ok," Gabriella turned away from the mirror before looking at Sharpay, "Yes I'm ready for my date tonight. I'm a little nervous since I haven't really dated in a few years but I'm excited for this date."

"You should be," Sharpay smiled, "Troy's a great guy and you two would make a cute couple."

"Yeah he's a great guy," Gabriella nodded her head in agreement just when there was a knock at the door, "That must be him. Can you get the door while I got get my purse?"

"Sure," Sharpay smiled as Gabriella walked away and she turned towards the door to open it to see a Troy who was wearing a tux and had flowers in her hand, "Wow you clean up nice."

"Thanks, I guess?" Troy gave her a look, "Uh…"

"Oh right, you can come in," Sharpay moved to the side so that Troy could walk into the apartment, "Gabriella just went to get her purse from her room."

"Oh that's fine," Troy nodded his head and then looked at Sharpay, "You know my friend Charlie has kind of been asking about you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he reached into his pocket to take out a piece of paper and handed it to Sharpay, "he asked me to give you his number so that you can call him sometime."

"I think I will," she nodded her head looking at the paper and then back at Troy, "oh and by the way if you hurt Gabriella, I will hurt you and no one wants Sharpay Evans to come after them."

"Don't worry," he shook his head, "I don't plan on hurting her."

"Good because if I find out that the date totally sucked and she wants nothing to do with you so she finally makes up her mind and goes on with her plan of going to New York leaving me," Sharpay pointed him in the face, "I will be coming right to you."

"Right. Got it. But I think the date will go well," Troy smiled nervously before looking away from Sharpay to notice Gabriella coming out of her room and he looked her up and down which caused Gabriella to blush a little bit, "Wow. You look amazing."

"Thank you," Gabriella smiled as she walked up to him, "you look pretty handsome yourself."

Troy smiled before handing over the flowers in his hand, "These are for you."

"Awe thank you, they are beautiful," Gabriella smiled before looking at Sharpay, "Shar, could you do me a favor and put these in water?"

"Of course," Sharpay smiled taking the flowers, "now you two have fun and remember what I said Bolton."

She gave them a smile before walking away from them and Gabriella looked at Troy confused of what Sharpay meant by that, "What is she talking about?"

"It's nothing," he chuckled slightly before offering his arm, "Shall we?"

Gabriella nodded her head as she accepted his arm, "We shall."

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Gabriella sat down in the chair that Troy held out for her and then pushed back in before he went to sit in the chair across from her and she smiled, "This place looks nice."

"Yeah this is probably the fanciest restaurant in this town," he smiled to the woman that was sitting across from him, "I hope it's not too much."

"No no it's fine," she smiled before picking up the menu and looked it over, "wow it's expensive. Are you sure this is ok?"

Troy nodded his head with a smile on his face, "It's fine. Don't worry about it. Order anything you want."

Gabriella smiled before looking back at the menu to see what she was in the mood for that evening. Everything looked so good but then she decided what she wanted, so she placed the menu back on the table and smiled as Troy was still looking at the menu when the waitress walked over.

"Hi I'm Britney and I'll be waitress this evening," she smiled at the couple and looked at Gabriella, "what can I get for you?'

Gabriella looked at Troy who nodded his head for her to go first so she looked at the menu and then to Britney, "Um for a drink, I would like to have sprite and then can I have the New York strip steak with baked potato, vegetables, and mashed potatoes? Thank you."

"Sure how would you like the steak cooked?"

"Medium rare please," she smiled at Britney before looking at Troy.

"And for you sir?"

Troy put a smile on his face looking at Gabriella before looking at Britney, "Actually I'll have the same as her except instead of a sprite, I'll have coke and then instead of medium rare, I'll have well done. Thank you."

"Ok I will get your drinks and then your dinner will come right up," Britney took the two menus from Troy and Gabriella before she walked away.

Gabriella looked at Troy with a smile on her face, "Copying me, Mr. Bolton?"

"Hey it's not my fault that we both like the same kinds of food," he chuckled looking at her, "so how are you liking West Virginia?"

"I like it here," Gabriella nodded her head, "I mean I wasn't expecting to like it so much here since I was trying to get away from the small town life, I guess I was wrong."

Troy smiled raising his eyebrow, "Do I hear someone's plans changing? You seem like the kind of girl that would keep going with your original plan and won't let anything get in the way."

"I thought so too but I guess life had other plans for me."

"So what does that mean?" Troy sat forward crossing his arms on the table, "Are you going to stick around a little longer?"

Gabriella didn't know what came over her but she did what Troy did and she nodded her head, "I think I might stick around longer than a little longer."

"Really?" Gabriella nodded her head and Troy smiled, "I think I like that."

"Really? Why?"

"Because then we can have more dates after tonight," Troy put on his charming smile on his face which caused Gabriella to giggle.

"Are you saying that you want to date me, Mr. Bolton?"

"Well Ms. Montez, I think that's exactly what I'm saying," he smiled before he sat back in his chair, "I mean if that's ok with you."

"I think that'll be ok with me," she nodded her head as she also sat back, "so how's work?"

Troy groaned shaking his head, "Work is work."

Gabriella shook her head giggling, "Well, you do need to work to make money for your plans of opening your sports arena which reminds me, how is that plan going?'

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Troy and Gabriella were both eating their dinners in silence but every now and then, they would both glance at each other and then when they catch each other looking at each other, they would blush and then look away. During the dinner, they were getting to know each other and making each other laugh, both were having fun during their first date.

"So how's your steak?" Gabriella broke the silence.

Troy smiled before looking at Gabriella nodding his head, "It's really good. What about yours?"

"It's delicious, I don't think I've ever had this good of steak before," she giggled before staring at Troy, "don't tell my Mom that I said that."

He chuckled shaking his head, "Your secret is safe with me."

"Good because she would kill me if I liked another steak from hers," Gabriella giggled, "even though her steak is to die for. Ugh now I'm confused of which steak I like betters."

Troy chuckled before wiping his mouth with his napkin, "Ok how about this? Your Mom's steak is your favorite home cooked steak and this steak is your favorite away from home steak."

"You know," Gabriella thought about it before breaking into a smile, "that's a great idea!"

Troy chuckled at Gabriella's reaction which he thought was cute, "You're cute."

She blushes a little as she looked down to take a bite from her steak before muttering a thank you. Troy smiled softly as she grew shy because he called her cute which was now making her even more adorable to him. He was starting to feel a lot for this girl and it scared him that it was just the first date but little did he know, she was thinking the same thing. Troy just smiled before he continued to eat his steak and once again they were sitting in silence but it was a comfortable silence.

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"That was a good dinner," Gabriella smiled as she looked at Troy who was sitting in the driver seat before looking out the window and then back to him, "where are you taking me now?"

Troy smiled glancing at Gabriella, "I want to show you something."

"You're not kidnapping me, are you?" She joked.

"No I'm not kidnapping you," he shook his head chuckling, "I'm really taking you somewhere to show you something."

Gabriella nodded her head before looking back out of her passenger window until she felt something on her knee and she looked down to find Troy's hand there. She looked at Troy before she smiled looking back outside again before she bravely put her hand on his.

After a few minutes, Troy pulled the car towards the curb and then parked the car and removed his hand off of Gabriella's knee looking at her. Gabriella looked at him and then looked out the window confused of where they were. Troy chuckled slightly at her confusion before he took his seatbelt off, getting out of the car and went around the car to open Gabriella's door, holding his hand out.

"Come on."

Gabriella took her seatbelt off and brought her legs around taking Troy's hand and he helped her out as he closed the door and locked his car, "Where are we?"

Troy held his hand up to her with a smile on his face before they started walking towards an old building. An old building that looks like it hasn't been used in years and this really confused Gabriella. They reached the building and Troy let go of her hand to move some things out of the way and found the door which he opened and took Gabriella's hand again as they walked inside.

Troy smiled before looking at Gabriella's still very confused face, "So what do you think?"

"What do I think about what?" She looked at him and noticed him nodding to the building, "Uh…it's old?"

"Yes," he nodded his head letting go of her hand as he walked more into the building and then turned around, "but don't picture of what it is now. Picture a basketball court, here to my left and then over to my right, picture an indoor swimming pool. Then in the back, an indoor baseball field, then also a dance area since that's considered as a sport now. The hockey rink will be outback and then the soccer fields, tennis courts. Then, if you decide to take my offer, upstairs can be your producing studio for music and maybe I'll put the dance studio upstairs as well."

Gabriella smiled as Troy kept going on about his plans, "So this is where you want your sports arena to be?"

"Well yeah," he nodded his head, "I'm actually working on my business plan to show some bankers next week to maybe getting loans because I'm going to need loans, even though I saved a lot of money up but I know this is the perfect place, it's big enough because it has great land which is what I need for each of the courts. This has been something that I have wanted to do since I was a kid and I'm finally getting a chance to do it."

She smiled walking up to him placing her hands on his shoulders, "I believe that this will be a great place for kids and even adults. You'll make a great sports arena. I already love your plans for it and I'm sure the bankers will think so too. It also helps that there aren't really any sports arenas in this area so you'll win. Plus it's in a great area, there are five towns surrounding and I'm sure people that live an hour away will want to come here."

"So you think it will work?" Troy moved his hands to Gabriella's waist as he really wanted to know her answer.

"I do," she nodded her head, "and about that producing studio…"

"Yeah?"

"I might take you up on that offer."

"Really?" Gabriella nodded her head, "Hey we can be partners."

"Business partners or partners?" She put on a flirtatious smile as she moved closer to Troy and moved her arms to around Troy's neck.

"I think we can be both," Troy nodded his head with a smile on his face before he leaned in to capture Gabriella's lips with his for a gently, slow moving kiss for a few moments before pulling back, "Yeah I think we can be both."

Gabriella giggled as she opened her eyes and they leaned their foreheads on each other's, "You know, I don't normally change my life plans after one date, you must be special."

"Well I feel special because I'm with one of the most beautiful girls in the world," Troy smiled which caused Gabriella to blush, "you're cute when you blush."

"Stop," she pushed him playfully as her cheeks got redder.

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Gabriella turned around and leaned against the apartment's door, "I had a really nice time."

"So did I," Troy smiled as he put his hand on the door with his arm over Gabriella and him up against her gently, "I hope we do this again."

"Well since I've kind of already decided that I'm staying because of the sports arena and music production business," she nodded her head, "I think we will be doing a lot of this."

"Good," he nodded his head before leaning down to capture Gabriella's lips once again in a more passionate kiss before pulling back speaking huskily, "Goodnight, Brie."

Gabriella smiled at the new nickname he has given her as she watched him push himself off of her and he turned around to walk towards the elevator. Once he got on the elevator, he waved to her which she returned and when the door closed, Gabriella turned around to open the door and she walked in, closing the door and she leaned her back on it thinking about the guy she had the date with.

Sharpay walked out of her room and smiled crossing her arms, "Nice night?"

"Oh yeah," Gabriella nodded her head as she looked at Sharpay, "it was a great night."

**So there you have it. I think there will only be three to five more chapters of this story because I can already picture the ending and the ending is coming soon. I hope you liked this chapter. What did you think of the date? What will happen next? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review. Thank you!**


	10. The Proposal

**So here's the next chapter for this story. It's official, there will only be three to five chapters left, I'm not sure exactly how many but this story is coming to a close and I'm sure the ending will be good, at least I will try to make it good. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

**Chapter 10**

**The Proposal**

[ 2 years later ]

Gabriella was sitting in the recording studio working on the track for one of her artists who was in the actual recording studio singing and as she was done, Gabriella put the speaker on as she smiled, "That was really good. Take a ten minute break before we work on other songs."

The girl smile nodding her head before taking the headphones off of her head before she stepped out of the studio and was on her way out of the big studio but the door opened and she smiled, "Hey Troy."

**If you watch One Tree Hill, picture that this recording studio is like Peyton's studio, where she has the office on the outside and then the actual recording studio where they record songs and stuff. I hope that helps. **

"Hey Sasha," he gave her a smile before nodding at Gabriella, "how's the mood?"

"I think she's good," Sasha giggled before putting her hand on the knob, "well I got a ten minute break and I'm going to use it."

Troy chuckled as Sasha walked out and he smiled as he saw Gabriella concentrating on the track so he walked over behind her and bent down placing his arm around her which made her jump slightly until he heard her whisper, "And how is my sexy partner doing today?"

She giggled before turning her head to look at him, "Working hard to finish this album."

"Wow your first ever album as the producer," Troy smiled before placing a kiss on her forehead, "how does it make you feel?"

"It feels surreal," she nodded her head giggling slightly, "I mean, just two years ago, I was planning on to going to New York to try and get a job as a song writer for a production company but here, I'm the actual producer and songwriter."

"Well I'm proud of you," he smiled placing another kiss on her forehead.

Gabriella smiled placing a kiss on Troy's lips before pulling away, "Well I couldn't have done without you and your idea of opening the sports arena and adding the music department."

"Well I had to if I wanted the pretty waitress to stay in my life longer," he chuckled as Gabriella rolled her eyes at the nickname that never left, "so I was thinking that tonight, we could go out and celebrate."

She grew confused, "Celebrate what? I thought we did all of our celebrations."

"Yes but we are going to celebrate the fact that the first album of the Montez Productions is almost done and I guess just to celebrate you and me," Troy placed a kiss on her lips in a slow moving kiss before pulling back, "I love you and do I really need to keep explaining why I need to go out with my girlfriend of two years?"

"No you don't so ok," she giggled before she saw Sasha walk back in and she looked at Troy, "Ok now be a good boy and let your woman work."

Troy shook his head and chuckled as he started backing away from Gabriella before winking at her and then walked out leaving the two girls laughing and Sasha looked at Gabriella, "You are so lucky to be dating him. He's so cute."

"I know but remember you have a boyfriend," Gabriella giggled before nodding her head towards the studio, "time to finish this album."

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"So wait," Sharpay looked at Gabriella with a raised eyebrow, "he said that he wanted to celebrate tonight for your first album as a producer?"

Gabriella nodded her head, "Yes."

Sharpay shook her head, "I think there's more to it."

"Well whatever it is," Gabriella gave Sharpay a look, "I will find out tonight but right now I need you to help me pick out an outfit."

"Already done," Sharpay smiled as she walked into Gabriella's closet to take out what she chose for her and then stepped out of the closet to show her, "this is what you are going to wear."

**I'm not very good at describing clothes so check out my profile picture for what Gabriella is wearing, also you can also check out what Troy is wearing but don't look yet until after this chapter because there is something there that may ruin the rest of the story for you. **

"Are you sure?" Gabriella looked at what Sharpay had in her hands, "Don't you think this is a little much?"

"Sweetie, you're 23 now," Sharpay rolled her eyes sarcastically, "you can wear these things now and not have anyone worry about it and plus you want to show Troy that his pretty waitress isn't just pretty anymore."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "He did call me his sexy partner today."

"Oh well now you have to wear this," Sharpay put the dress on the bed before turning to Gabriella again, "I'm going to do your hair and make-up. Alright let's get you ready for whatever kind of real celebration this is."

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Sharpay opened the door and smiled when she saw Troy standing there with flowers, "Well doesn't this remind me of some other time?"

"Yeah the first date," Troy chuckled as he walked into the apartment and noticed that Gabriella was nowhere in sight so he whispered, "Does she have any idea?"

"Nope," she shook her head also whispering, "she just thinks that you're really only taking her out to celebrate her accomplishment of finishing the first album ever which is so weird because it's not even her own album which I keep telling her that she needs to make one because have you heard her sing? She's amazing!"

"I know but she said that she might think about doing one when she gets some other artists started," he nodded his head remember what she told him once but then whispered again, "Is it normal that I'm not really nervous about this?"

"Nah, it just shows that you have confidence," Sharpay nodded her head with a smile on her face, "which is good because if you didn't, there would be no sports arena which is doing great and Gabriella probably wouldn't be here either so it's good to have confidence and you probably will get nervous when you're ready to do it."

"Oh yeah thanks," Troy said sarcastically as she shook his head, "that's going to do good to my confidence."

Gabriella looked at herself in the mirror before she walked out of her room and smiled as she saw Troy standing over near the door but then grew confused when she saw her best friend and her boyfriend whispering, "Ok what's with the whispering between you two?"

"Oh nothing," Sharpay shook her head, "just telling him about how amazing of a singer you are and how you should have your own album."

"And then I was telling her how you were going to think about doing it but wait until you get some other artists into the Montez Productions," Troy smiled before looking Gabriella up and down landing on her eyes, "Damn I'm a lucky guy to have such a beautiful girlfriend."

"Awe thank you," Gabriella smiled before walking forward accepting the flowers from Troy before sniffing them and then looking at Sharpay, "Sharpay…"

"Yeah yeah yeah give them here so I can put this in water," Sharpay looked at Troy, "you really need to change it up a little."

Troy glared at her before Sharpay walked away from them and Gabriella giggled as Troy shook his head, "Why are you friends with her?"

"Don't you mean why are we friends with her?" she giggled at Troy's face, "Oh come on babe, you like having Sharpay as your friend and besides if it wasn't for her, we may have never been and I probably would be in New York right now with some other guy."

"Woh," Troy put his pointer finger close to her, "do not, I repeat, do not joke like that again."

Gabriella giggled before taking Troy's pointer finger and placed it up to her lips so that she can kiss it giving him a smile, "I promise."

"Good," he smiled moving close to her so that he could kiss her lips before pulling away, "we should get going."

"Ok," Gabriella smiled before yelling behind her, "Bye Sharpay!"

"Bye," Sharpay came to watch Gabriella leave the house and Troy turned towards her as he was closing the door and she smiled whispering, "Good luck."

He nodded his head before closing the door and took Gabriella's hand as they headed towards the elevator as they started for their date.

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"I can never get tired of this steak," Gabriella giggled as she took another bite from her steak, "I love this restaurant."

"Why do you think I keep bring us here?" Troy chuckled as he took a bite of his steak, "I know how much you love the steak and plus we had our first date here so this is our place and almost everyone knows our names."

"Well we do eat here almost every week," Gabriella giggled as she saw Troy's face, "not that I'm complaining."

"That's what I thought."

She giggled before wiping her mouth with her napkin and placed the napkin on the table as she just finished her dinner. Troy was finishing up his last bite before he did the same thing but also took a sip from his wine that they had both decided to order. Britney, their regular waitress came over with a smile on her face.

"Ah how are my two favorite customers doing?" Troy and Gabriella both smiled at her meaning they were good and Britney was starting to clean up the table before looking at Troy, "Should I bring out the dessert now?"

"Yes I believe now is a good time for dessert," Troy smiled at Britney before looking at Gabriella who had a confused look written all over her face, "Oh I ordered some dessert when you were at the bathroom."

Gabriella nodded her head, "Oh ok."

Troy smiled and nodded his head to Britney who nodded her head before walking away with their empty plates. He then looked at Gabriella with a smile on his face before reaching over with his hand to grab Gabriella's hand as he started to stroke the back of with his thumb, not letting the smile leave his face until he saw Britney come back with a dessert in her hand but she knew not to put it on the table yet until her cue came.

"So Gabriella, you know how I said that we were here to celebrate your accomplishment of producing your first CD?" Gabriella nodded her head feeling a little confuse as Troy took a breath before he continued, "Well I was kind of wondering if we could be celebrating something else."

Troy motioned for Britney to bring the dessert and she smiled as she walked over placing the dessert in front of Gabriella before stepping back so that she can watch. Gabriella looked at Troy before he nodded his head for her to look at the dessert and as she did, she gasped before putting both of her hands to her face. It was Gabriella's favorite dessert which was chocolate cake with some strawberry sauce and powdered sugar over it but it was what was written underneath it that shocked her. In chocolate sauce, the words 'Will You Marry Me?' were written and Gabriella looked up to find Troy not sitting across from her anymore but beside her, on his knee with a black velvet box in his hand.

Gabriella felt tears in her eyes as she whispered to herself, "Oh my God."

"Gabriella, these past two years have been the best two years of my life because you were in it. From the moment I saw you in the diner, I knew that you were the one for me, my pretty waitress. Then when you told me about your plans to go to New York, I knew I had to find some way to keep you here so I came up with idea to add the music department to my sports arena idea and let me tell you, seeing you every day has been the best thing ever for me. There's just one problem, I want to wake up with you next to me every day and I want you to be Mrs. Bolton, so I guess what I'm trying to ask you is, will you do me the honor of calling you my wife?"

Troy opened the box to reveal the ring which was had a diamond in the middle, with heart of diamonds around it and then diamonds going down around the ring part of the ring. **You can check out the picture on my profile picture. I love this ring! I want it! …lol… Gabriella is so lucky, oh wait, did she say yes yet? Oops. Got to get back to the story!** Troy looked at Gabriella with hope written in his eyes and Gabriella had tears in her eyes.

"Yes," she nodded her head quickly and Troy smiled as he took the ring out and placed it on Gabriella's left ring finger and she looked at it, "this is so beautiful."

"Just like you," he stood up and pulled Gabriella up with him as he pulled her close to him and put his lips on Gabriella's lips as they shared a passionate kiss as the whole restaurant erupted in cheers and they pulled back chuckling/giggling at everyone before Troy stroked Gabriella's cheek, "I love you babe."

"I love you too," she smiled and she looked around the restaurant before looking back at Troy, "Uh maybe we should sit back down."

"Sure," Troy smiled as he helped Gabriella sit back down before he went to sit down in his seat and then looked at the dessert, "Damn that looks good."

Gabriella giggled as she pushed the plate so that they both could reach it, "Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to share with my fiancé."

"Hmm fiancé," he nodded his head, "I like the sound of that."

She giggled before taking a bite of the cake and moaned because it tasted so good but then she looked at her ring with a smile on her face as she realized something before looking at Troy, "Did Sharpay know about this?"

"Uh well yeah," he nodded his head with a smile on his face, "she told me that she had the perfect dress for the evening which you do look amazing in and she kind of helped me with picking out the ring."

Gabriella smiled before looking at the ring, "Well the ring is beautiful. I hope it wasn't too expensive."

"Baby nothing is too expensive when it comes to you," he smiled as he reached over for her hand with his hand, "and remember we're going to be ok because the sports arena is doing great and so is the music department so we're set. It's great being owners."

"Yes but you still have payments to pay off for the renovations."

"Don't worry about it," he shook his head, "everything is going to be fine. Let's just celebrate tonight and then worry about that other stuff later on."

Gabriella nodded as she took another bite from her cake as Troy was still holding her hand. Gabriella knew Troy was right, just celebrate tonight and the just worry about the other stuff later on because they had their whole lives to worry about the other stuff.

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"I think this was by far the best date I've had," Gabriella smiled as she had arms around Troy's neck as his were around her neck, "the perfect way to end it is if you kiss me."

"I was planning on it," he smiled as he leaned in to capture her lips with his in a slow moving kiss and then pulled back, "Can't wait until I get to do that every morning, every day, and even every night. Those lips belong to me and no one else."

Gabriella giggled nodding her head, "Well I should head inside. Sharpay's probably waiting for me."

"I guess I'll let you go but I'll see you tomorrow," Troy smiled before giving Gabriella another kiss before letting her go, "Goodnight Brie."

"Goodnight," she smiled before she opened the door and she walked in closing the door waiting for her best friend to run in the hallway to meet her.

As if on cue, here comes Sharpay running over to her and grabbed her left hand to find the ring on her finger and she hugged Gabriella really hard, "You said yes!"

"Yes, yes I said yes," Gabriella giggled as she pulled away from Sharpay, "I'll tell you all about the night."

That's how Sharpay and Gabriella spent the whole night. They were talking about how Troy proposed and they already started talking about what they wanted to do for the wedding. Also Sharpay explained how she knew what kind of ring to get her. This was one happy night for the couple, Troy and Gabriella.

**So what did you think of this chapter? I hope you did enjoy this chapter since it's the longest one for this story. If you know the song, you know that the story is coming to a close like I have said so I hope you enjoy these final chapters of this story. Please let me know what you think by leaving a review. Thank you!**


	11. The Wedding

**Here is the next chapter for this story and one of the last chapters. I'm still not sure how many chapters are left but probably two or three. But I have a new story to replace this story so please go check out that story which is called Lucky, it could be better than this story, well we'll see. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

**Chapter 11**

**The Wedding**

[ 6 months later ]

Maria smiled as she was in Gabriella's dressing room watching as Sharpay was doing Gabriella's hair, "Awe sweetie, you're going to look so beautiful once you put on that dress."

"Thanks Mom," she smiled slightly as she looked herself in the mirror, "I love the hair Shar."

"Well I don't own a hair salon for nothing," Sharpay giggled as she kept doing her hair.

As Troy and Gabriella opened their sports arena/music production company, Sharpay came up with the idea of opening her own hair salon since she did go for that in college. She just wasn't sure what she was going to do with her degree but then she came up with the idea of the hair salon which is going really well.

"I still can't believe that I'm getting married today," Gabriella sighed in happiness as she kept looking in the mirror, "it still feels like that it was just yesterday when I met Troy at the diner where we used to work."

Maria nodded her head with a smile on her face, "It feels like just yesterday when I asked you if you were sure about going to New York and also reminded you that if you find something that feels right, don't be afraid to change your plans because plans change and your goal will always be there but the guy may not."

"I know," Gabriella nodded her head looking at her Mom, "and you were right. How are you and Dad doing?"

Greg Montez has gotten a divorce with his second wife when he realized that he was still in love with Maria. He wasn't sure why he did what he did by wanting the divorce when in reality, he never stopped loving her so he went back to Georgia to try and get Maria back which has worked and they have been back together for the past year and were also planning on getting remarried in a few years after Troy and Gabriella's wedding.

"We're doing really good," Maria nodded her head, "it was like we were never divorced but enough about me, today is all about you."

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"You're getting married dude," Charlie looked at Troy with a smile on his face, "how do you feel?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders slightly as he was fixing his tie and looking himself in the mirror, "It feels surreal just because it's happening already. I mean, I get we've been together for 2 and half years but it feels like I've been with her forever. I'm happy."

"You look happy," Jack, Troy's Dad patted his back, "she's a great girl. We're very proud of you and even your brothers are too."

Troy chuckled as he looked over to where his now 18 and 14 year old brother were sitting, "You guys need to look more thrilled. I mean, I'm your older brother and I'm getting married which means now you guys can have a sister."

"Just wish she had sisters," Josh the 18 year old complained, "but we're good. Just can't wait for this thing to start."

Bryan, the 14 year old brother pushed Josh slightly, "Be patient but seriously when does this wedding thing start and how long does it go for? I want food!"

Charlie shook his head before patting Troy's back, "Now I know why you moved out of your house right after high school. Well I could've seen that way before now but right now, I really am glad that my parents didn't have any other children."

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"Are you ready sweetie?" Greg looked at his daughter who was ready to walk down the aisle.

Gabriella nodded her head, "Yes."

"I can't believe that my baby girl is getting married today," he smiled as he pressed a kiss to her cheek before standing beside her offering his arm, "it's time."

"Yeah it's time," she nodded taking a breath before accepting his arm as the music started and everyone started walking down the aisle before Gabriella looked at her Dad, "I love you Daddy."

"I love you too," he put a smile on his face, "no matter what happens, I will always be there for you more than I was when your Mom and I divorced the first time."

"Dad, you're here now and that's all that matters now and you're both happy together again so it's ok," she smiled placing a kiss on his cheek, "now can you walk me down the aisle?"

"As you wish baby girl," Greg chuckled as he started walking down the aisle as the music for the bride started.

Everyone stood up and smiled to watch Greg walk his daughter down. Even though everyone was watching her, Gabriella kept her eyes forward on her husband to be who was looking down until Charlie nudged his side with his elbow and then he looked up and their eyes locked which caused both to smile at each other. This made things really easier.

As they finally reached the ending of the aisle, the pastor smiled and asked, "Who gives this woman to this man?"

"I do," Greg smiled before kissing Gabriella's cheek letting her hand go as he shook Troy's hand and then went to sit down next to Maria and grabbed her hand before whispering in her ear, "that's our baby girl up there."

Maria smiled nodding her head before she looked up to see Troy and Gabriella holding hands facing the pastor who started to speak, "Dear beloved, we are gathered here today to bring this man and this woman together in holy matrimony. If anyone believes that these two are not meant to wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

**I know that isn't everything a priest says but I want to make things go a little faster so yeah. Back to the story!**

There was silence and both Troy and Gabriella glanced at each other with a smile on their faces before looking back at the pastor who also smiled at the couple before he continued, "You may now face each other and then grab each other's hands."

They both turned to each other and took each other's hands before the pastor spoke again, "Troy and Gabriella have written down their own vows so Troy you may go first."

Troy nodded his head before looking at Gabriella with a smile on his face, "I remember the day I walked into that diner, I wasn't looking for anything but food because I was hungry and it was a long day of work but when I walked in, I forgot all about my hunger pains once I saw you, my pretty waitress. You were so beautiful with your brown hair, brown eyes, sweet smile, and I knew I was already falling for you. After I found out about your plan to New York, I knew I had to find some way to keep you here with me so when I remembered why you said you were going to New York, I've decided to add the music department to my plans. We have been partners for almost three years and everything has worked out great. I love seeing your face every day because I know that your face is only looking at me, I love kissing your lips every day, spending every day together at work. There is just one thing missing and that is falling asleep next to you or with you in my arms and waking up to seeing your face. You made my life worth living. I don't know what I would have done without you. I love you Gabriella and no one is going to take my love away from you."

Gabriella had tears in her eyes, as did most of the girls in the church did and the pastor smiled before looking at Gabriella, "Gabriella?'

She nodded her head before wiping her eyes as she looked at Troy and started to speak her words, "I left Georgia thinking that I was going to go to New York like I have always planned, just get out of the small town life. Then I had to stop in West Virginia to make some money for my way to New York but then you walked into the diner, then suddenly my plans were changing especially the night when you told me about your plans of the sports arena and then you were already writing me into your life before we even started dating. I never thought that I would have wanted to keep living the small town life but after the first date, I knew life was changing my plans and I actually had no problem with it. My Mom has always told me that Home is where the heart is and I always said ok but never really believed it but she was right, my home really is where my heart wants to be and it's all because of you. I love you, your eyes, your smile, everything about you because you care about me and want to protect me and you also believe in me with my dreams. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you because I know I have you."

Whoever didn't have tears flowing down their cheeks before, now have them and all needed to use tissues which even Gabriella needed so Sharpay handed her one so she could wipe her eyes. Troy smiled as he couldn't help but have tears in his eyes as well before he moved one of his hands up to her cheeks to help wipe the tears off of her face like he always does when she has tears in her eyes. Gabriella couldn't help but feel more tears come as he touched her before he took her hand again as they looked back at the pastor after Gabriella handed the tissue back to Sharpay who was gladly to take it.

"May we have the rings?" Gabriella turned as Sharpay handed her a ring and Troy did the same with Charlie before they turned back towards each other, "Troy? Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and cherish her? In sickness and in health? For better or for worse? Until death do you part?"

Troy smiled as he slowly put the wedding ring on Gabriella's left ring finger before looking at her, "I do."

The pastor smiled before looking at Gabriella, "Gabriella? Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and cherish him? In sickness and in health? For better or for worse? Until death do you part?"

Gabriella smiled through her tears as she slowly put the wedding ring on Troy's left ring finger before looking at him, "I do."

The pastor smiled before looking between Troy and Gabriella, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Troy smiled before pulling Gabriella close to him and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," she smiled as he leaned down to capture her lips in a very passionate kiss and she wrapped her arms around his neck before pulling back to look at each other through their eyes.

"I would like to announce Mr. and Mrs. Troy Bolton," the pastor spoke as everyone stood up and started cheering for the new married couple and cameras were going off.

**Ok so I don't really like the ending but there it is. After writing this chapter, I think there is going to be one more chapter which will be the reception. If you want to see Troy and Gabriella in their wedding dress and tux, you can see the picture that I have used on my profile page. What did you think of this chapter? Are you sad that there is only one more chapter left? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review. Thank you!**


	12. The Reception

**Well it's here. It's finally here. We all knew that it was going to come to an end and it's here. I warned you that it wasn't going to be a long story and actually it has gone longer than I originally planned to do. I may do an epilogue but I don't think I am so don't look out for it but we'll see. It will depend on if I have time or not and if I want to surprise you or not so act like this is the last ever chapter because who knows, maybe I will do the epilogue if I have time. I hope you enjoy this last chapter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 12**

**The Reception**

It was later at the reception after the beautiful wedding where Troy and Gabriella were pronounced husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Bolton. They spent some time going around all of the tables talking to friends and families and were congratulated by everyone. They went to sit down at their table with the wedding party with Sharpay who was Gabriella's maid of honor and Charlie who was Troy's best man. Also at the table were both Troy and Gabriella's parents and of course Troy's two brothers. It wasn't a big wedding party but it was just enough for Troy and Gabriella.

"I can't believe that my baby is married," Maria looked at Troy and Gabriella shaking her head, "I still remember when you were just born."

"Mom," Gabriella groaned slightly before shaking her head, "no baby stories."

"Don't worry," Maria shook her head, "no baby stories at least tonight."

Gabriella rolled her eyes before looking to the man beside her with a smile on her face, "Hi Mr. Bolton."

"Hello Mrs. Bolton," Troy smiled before placing his arm around her waist as he pulled her forward for a kiss on the lips before pulling away, "God, I'm so glad that you're finally my wife."

Gabriella giggled, "And I'm glad that you're finally my husband."

"Ok stop I'm going to throw up," Josh complained but then Sharpay slapped him in the back of his head and he groaned before rubbing his head, "What the hell was that for?"

"Joshua language," Jack glared at his 18-year old son, "and don't criticize your brother and his new wife. They deserve to show as much as affection to each other as much as they want as this is their wedding day. Plus I'll be making sure that Bryan shows how it feels for you when you plan to get married. Now stop complaining."

Bryan chuckled as his second oldest brother groaned before nodding his head, "Oh I would love to do that. I have no problem doing that but there's one problem. No girl would ever want to marry him so I may not get the chance to since I'll probably marry before him."

Josh glared at his little brother who was sitting next to him, "Shut up."

Gabriella giggled as she sat close to Troy before whispering to him, "I love your family."

"Eh they're ok," he chuckled before kissing the top of her head, "they can be entertaining though and I'm glad I'm not living with them anymore or else one of those little brats wouldn't be here right now."

She giggled again before sitting up looking at him, "You love your brothers."

"I do," Troy nodded his head before moving his head towards her, "but between you and me, I love you more."

Gabriella couldn't help but giggle again before placing her hands on each of Troy's cheeks as she leaned in to capture her husband's lips with hers for a gentle but passionate kiss. They have been doing this ever since they left the church and everyone thought it was cute, well of course except the kids or at least Josh.

Sharpay and Charlie looked at each other before nodding their heads and they both stood up with glasses in their hands before Charlie started ringing the glass with a spoon to catch everyone's attention which worked so he started speaking, "As Troy's best man and Gabriella's maid of honor, Sharpay and I had to write speeches about these two people in our lives so here goes nothing. Sharpay, you can go first."

"Ok," Sharpay nodded her head before picking up her note cards but then looked at Gabriella with a smile on her face, "Gosh it feels like I have known you forever but it's only been three years, same as Troy since will I was the one that talked you into calling him so I should be thanked for this whole wedding thing," everyone laughed before Sharpay continued, "but seriously, you're like the sister that I never had and always have wanted. I remember the first day you started working that the diner and you told me your plans, I let you stay in my apartment so that you wouldn't have to pay for the hotel. It was probably the greatest think I could've done because like I said you were and are like a sister to me. When I thought you were going to New York, I didn't know what to think because I thought I was going to lose the sister that I just got but then you met him, Troy Bolton who changed your life for the good. Your plans changed and look at you now, your happily married to a great guy, have a great business and you have a great future. You are my best friend and my sister who I'm so happy for because you totally deserve this and I can't thank you enough for picking me to be your maid of honor and for me to witness this love that has grown together from where it all started at our diner. I love you Ellie which is my nickname, no one else can call you that but seriously I love you and I know that you will have a great life which I will definitely be a part of."

Gabriella smiled as she had tears in her eyes before nodding her head mouthing 'I love you too' to Sharpay as Troy placed his arms around her waist pulling her close to him. Gabriella smiled as she leaned back into his chest. **She's sitting sideways on the chair where the back of the chair is on her right. **Troy placed his chin on Gabriella's head looking at Charlie who was getting ready to speak.

"Ok so I'm pretty sure that Troy is waiting for me to crack a joke or even embarrass him because oh believe me, I have plenty of embarrassing stories about him," Troy rolled his eyes shaking his head as it was still on Gabriella's head, "but I'm not going to so here goes nothing. Troy, you and I have been best friends since we were in pre-school fighting over crayons which were mine, by the way. Ever since then, if someone saw either of us alone, it was so weird to them because we would play basketball together, go fishing together, basically do a lot of things together. I remember when one of the girls asked us if we were gay and we looked at each other laughing hysterically shaking our heads and just said that we were best buds and we are and forever will be. You are a like a brother from another mother since I was the only child and I'm glad it was you because I don't think I would've been able to go through my grandfather's death without you. I remember the night when you told me that you invited this waitress and her friend to join us at the club and at first I didn't know what to think because it's been you and me for as long as I could remember. I mean, yes we had girlfriends but it was different. We were growing up because we were done with college and everything so this was going to be a serious relationship. But when I met Gabriella, I knew you were right, she was pretty, she was perfect, and you two do look good together. Also if you wasn't for you, I wouldn't be with my beautiful fiancée right now," Charlie smiled at Sharpay before looking back at Troy and Gabriella, "congratulations you guys. I hope Sharpay and I have a nice wedding just like you guys and hope to be just as happy as you guys. We love you and proud to be called your best friends."

Sharpay put her glass to the air towards Troy and Gabriella, "To Troy and Gabriella!"

Everyone repeated what Sharpay said as they put their glasses up to the air as well before taking a sip of their drink. Gabriella turned her head towards Troy with a smile on her face and he smiled as well before leaning in to capture her lips with his. To say they were happy, was an understatement, they were very happy.

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Gabriella smiled as she was standing on a stage-like thing that was near the dance floor, "Ok so everyone knows that Troy and I own the Bolton Sports Arena and Montez Productions and I am the producer and song writer but people were telling me that I should start working on my own album after producing other albums so I thought about it and I agreed so I was thinking that I could sing my first song that I have written for myself to all of you. This is dedicated to my new husband and my Mom because if it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't be here right now."

Gabriella smiled as she looked at the guys who were going to play the music for her. She nodded her head for them to begin the music and then they did. Gabriella then looked out at Troy who had a smile on his face and then also to her Mom who also had a smile on her face. Just as it was time for her to start singing, she grabbed the mic and started singing the lyrics she wrote.

_I felt I was spinning my wheels  
>Before too long the road was calling<br>I packed everything I owned  
>So sure that I was leaving<em>

_This small town life behind for good  
>And not a single tear was falling<br>It took leaving for me to understand  
>Sometimes your dreams just aren't what life has planned<em>

_Mama said home is where the heart is  
>When I left that town<br>I made it all the way to West Virginia  
>And that's where my heart found<em>

_Exactly where I'm supposed to be  
>It didn't take much time<br>It's just south of the Mason Dixon Line  
>It's just south of the Mason Dixon Line<em>

_I worked third shift at an all-night diner  
>Only stayed to save a little money for<br>Enough gas to make it to the East Coast  
>That's when I saw the brightest pair of<em>

Gabriella locked eyes with her blue-eyed husband who had a grin on his face as she was singing. 

_Deep blue eyes walking straight into my life  
>And every night we talked till it became so clear<br>And I could feel those dreams inside shifting gears  
>'Cause love brought me here<em>

_Mama said home is where the heart is  
>When I left that town<br>I made it all the way to West Virginia  
>And that's where my heart found<em>

_Exactly where I'm supposed to be  
>It didn't take much time<br>It's just south of the Mason Dixon Line  
>It's just south of the Mason Dixon Line<em>

_And I'm standing in my veil about to say I do  
>As mama smiles with tear drops in her eyes<br>And then I realize there's something mama always knew  
>Love is what I really left to find<em>

_She said home is where the heart is  
>When I left that town<br>I made it all the way to West Virginia  
>And that's where my heart found<em>

_Exactly where I'm supposed to be  
>It didn't take much time<br>It's just south of the Mason Dixon Line  
>It's just south of the Mason Dixon Line<em>

_(Mama said home is where the heart is)  
>It's just south of the Mason Dixon Line<br>(Mama said home is where the heart is)  
>It's just south of the Mason Dixon Line,<br>Line_

"Thank you," Gabriella smiled as everyone gave her a standing ovation before she stepped down off the stage and over to her Mom giving her a hug, "I love you Mom."

"I love you two sweetie," Maria smiled before pulling away from her daughter, "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks Mom," Gabriella smiled before she turned towards Troy who held his arms open and she walked into his arms as they hugged each other and she pulled back looking into his eyes, "I love you Troy."

"I love you too Gabriella," he nodded his head as he leaned in to kiss her lips before pulling away, "more than you could ever possibly know."

She giggled placing her arms around his neck with a smile on her face as he placed his hands around her waist pulling her really close to him so that their bodies were touching, "I'm glad that I found out that my home is where my heart is because it would've been a huge mistake leaving."

"I wasn't going to let you leave," he shook his head as he chuckled slightly, "but now you're here to stay and who knows maybe we'll start a chain of sports arenas and you will become a huge star that we won't even be here that much."

Gabriella shook her head, "We will always be here. It's where our love started and where our home is. Nothing is going to take that away."

Troy smiled before he leaned back in to capture his wife's lips with his own in a very passionate kiss. Everyone at the reception smiled at the happy couple knowing that everything was going good for these two and Gabriella was right, she did find that her home is where the heart is and she was glad that she eventually did listen to her Mom because she wouldn't be as happy as she is today, that day.

The End

**Ok so I don't really like ending after the song but it's the best I could do. So what did you think of the ending? Are you sad that it's over? Do you want an epilogue? If I do an epilogue, what do you want to see in the chapter? Now that this story is over, are you going to read my new one that has replaced this which is Lucky? (Two chapters are up already) What did you think of this story overall? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review. Thank you!**

**Oh and by the way, the song is Home Is Where the Heart Is by Lady Antebellum and I don't own the song! Look for the song on my profile page so that you can listen to it. **


	13. Author Note

Hey everyone. I know, I know – you're tired of these author's notes coming from me but it's something that you all need to know.

It's been five months since I have written anything for Fanfiction and YouTube, even after I agreed to start writing up again and at that point, I was ready to write again. But 1) I have not had time to write much or even inspiration for my Troyella stories. 2) I have been focusing on some personal writings like novels, screenplays, and blog. 3) I also have been crazy busy with school that has definitely taken time away from writing here.

This author's not is supposed to let you know that, as of right now, I don't think I will be writing anymore on here but ya never know, MAYBE one day – I will come back on here. I will keep all of my stories up so you can always read them whenever you want, including on my YouTube page.

If you want to stay in touch with me, you can message me on here – go check out my twitter, blog, and personal YouTube page: all links are on my Fanfiction page. Go look there!

Once again, I am sorry and I hope you understand. If all things go as I plan, you will be definitely be hearing me in the near future [not on here but maybe out in the real world ]. I want to thank all of my readers and reviewers for everything they have done for me over the year.

So until you hear from me again, this will be the last time on here.

Thank you!

P.S. Remember to check out my blog! (Link on page's description)


	14. Update Author Note

Hey everyone. Once again, I know – you are definitely tired of getting these author's notes from me but I'm using these to keep you, my readers, up to date with what's going on.

If you follow Mr. Reality (posting this note on every story of mine) – I want to let you know that I was working on the next chapter and there is a part of the story that I want to get to but for some reason, I don't have the umpft to writing it down. So I'm sorry to say, Mr. Reality is officially cancelled. I'm sorry! You don't know how much I wanted to continue that story, including all the other unfinished stories but for some reason, I just don't have it in me to continue. I hope you all can understand!

Another reason, I am writing you this note is to let you all know that I have been doing much more thinking this past couple weeks about maybe finally publishing a novel, that I have been working on for years. I am in the middle of editing, as we speak. I wanted to let you know this because I don't want you to think that I'm going to stop writing, because I'm not. I can't. It's who I am. I'm just not going to be writing anymore High School Musical (Troyella) stories. I still love and support the High School Musical cast, but it's time for a change. Life is all about changes.

I want to thank all my readers and viewers (from YouTube) for sticking with me through everything on both Fanfiction and YouTube, I'm grateful for each one of you. I am hoping that you will continue following me as I move on into the writing world.

I will still be reading stories on Fanfiction and you can send me messages through here, if you would like to talk. I also have a Facebook page that you can LIKE, also have a personal twitter and YouTube pages that you can follow/subscribe. Also, I have a blog that you can read and follow. All links are on my profile!

Once again, sorry and thank you!

Caitlin 3

P.S. Don't worry, I won't be deleting any of the stories off of here, UNLESS I decide to publish one of them.


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